Alexandra Diaz
Santa Fe, New Mexico

Alexandra Diaz has been taking care of children for 14 years and despite popular opinion, it is a "real" job. Through endless hours of childcare, she put herself through school at Lake Forest College. She is a children's writer and playwright. Her play, "Cross Ties" was produced as part of the 2004 Playwrights in Progress festival at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago. Alexandra currently lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The Joys of Children

If you ask a person what their most prized possession is, most people will reply that their children are the valuables dearest to their heart. When you think about it, it makes sense. A child is the walking, talking replica of a person; the living proof that the parent’s genes will continue to live once they are gone. Even if the child is adopted, too much love has been administered to easily disregard a child. Considering most parents would give the world for their children, it is surprising that childcare providers are among the lowest paid individuals.

For fourteen years, my primary source of income has come from childcare. While some families have treated me with respect and gratefulness, there are certainly many families who don’t wish to pay for the responsibility or reliability that I have to offer.

Parents are always anxious to get the number of a new babysitter, but are rarely willing to pay the price of someone with the experience to properly take care for an infant, toddler, or school age child. Unless the parents are in a pinch, the high demand for sitters does not transfer to a higher wage. You would think that 14 years experience, and CPR and First Aid certifications would mean something to parents. The truth is, it usually doesn’t. Not when they can hire a twelve-year-old for $2.50. According to parents, the only advantage that I have over the twelve-year-old is the ability to chauffeur. To parents, any random person is hired to babysit. Without looking at any credentials or calling references, how much a babysitter charges is the most important qualification for taking care of a child supposedly dear to the heart.

Instead, a childcare provider’s income should reflect how much the child means to the parents. If a child is important to a parent, then shouldn’t the child be taken care of by the best person money can buy? Surely a happy and safe child is worth more than a clean house, and yet housecleaners on the higher income level than babysitters.

It wouldn’t be so bad earning a low wage if parents weren’t so tight about paying that low wage. After taking care of three kids for 9½ hours, I was entitled to receive $47.50. Unfortunately, the parents only had $48 and heaven forbid they would give me a 50-cent tip. For 15 minutes, they searched the house, finally having to break into the kids’ piggy banks to come up with three dimes, a nickel and 15 pennies in order to pay me exact change. At that rate, I had been at their house for 9¾ hours and should have received $48.75. Taken for fact that all three kids went to private school, I think their parents could have afforded to give me the original 50-cent tip. While fifty cents would have made a big difference in the 1950s, it isn’t that big of a deal in the 21 st century to give your babysitter a fifty-cent tip. Or am I mistaken?

Even if the parents are not extremely wealthy, they should at least be expected to pay the agreed wage. After eight hours with a four-year-old, driving her all across town, enduring a fake haircut that turned out to be real, and reading Goosebumps (which scared me more than her), the mother shorts me $20—half of the due amount! Unfortunately I was so tired by the time I left I didn’t notice the shortage until the morning when I needed gas and realized I hadn’t been compensated for that either.

Sometimes, I earn more money taking care of someone’s dog than his or her children. In most cases, walking a dog provides a larger yield than babysitting, and it is a lot less work. Comparing that I get $10-15 for a twenty-minute walk with Rover to $5 per hour to take care of a crying, screaming, pooping child, something is not right. And when taking care of three crying, screaming, pooping children at the same rate, parents have lost their sense of priorities.

Most people are under the impression that babysitting is an easy job that does not require any special talents or abilities. I would see if those people can juggle (literally and figuratively) between changing diapers, cleaning up spills, playing catch, breaking up fights, driving to practices, keeping little hands out of the cookie jar, making sure the dog isn’t stepped on, and supervising the finger painter all without screaming any “bad language words.” Added to the fact that babysitters are often cancelled at the last minute without any compensation, work 365 days per year without overtime, parents don’t come home at said time (causing tardiness or last minute cancellation for the next job), extra kids are added unannounced, and housecleaning after the kids is expected, babysitting is not a job for just any kind of person. So why do I continue doing work that is not all fun and games? Because even when the pay is not great and parents and kids are overwhelming, there are those times when you get a smile of relief from an over-worked mother and a personal portrait from your favorite preschooler to hang on your fridge.

THE END

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